Luke 21:25 says the following:
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves…
The first part of the verse has a parallel in Matthew and Mark: ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light’. There is also a similar passage in Acts, where Peter quotes from the prophet Joel:
And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Earlier this year the images of the fires in Australia brought Joel’s words to mind, especially after the rain produced huge clouds of smoke and ash.
Are these the kind of signs Joel imagined? I don’t know! But many news channels described the scenes as ‘apocalyptic’.
But the second part of the verse, where Luke talks about the roaring of the sea and the waves, is unique to Luke. Commentators mostly take this idea metaphorically. It is an image of great distress; it doesn’t mean literal waves. Christians with a concern for the environment are more inclined to take it literally. Either is possible. All through the Bible ‘waves’ is used in both a metaphorical and a literal way. In the Old Testament, David says, ‘For the waves of death encompassed me.’ That’s metaphorical. Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. That’s literal.
We might be inclined to think – waves?! Surely waves aren’t so bad? Hurricanes are bad. They are destructive. But surely waves only affect people out to sea or people on the coast? Waves don’t affect most people. So maybe we should take Jesus’ words here metaphorically.
We are being buffeted by some metaphorical waves right now. On Monday a teenager on Breakfast (a UK morning news programme) said, ‘Time’s very strange right now. Everyone wonders what’s going to happen next.’
But literal waves are a reality too. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami claimed 230,000 lives. The 2011 earthquake off Japan caused a tsunami which flooded the Fukushima nuclear plant. Still, such tsunamis are a rarity.
However, I expect that another kind of wave will increasingly become an issue in the coming decades – specifically, the ‘storm surge’.
A storm surge can be the most damaging aspect of a hurricane. It was the storm surge that Hurricane Katrina produced that flooded New Orleans. The deadliest cyclone ever recorded hit Bangladesh (at that time East Pakistan) and West Bengal in India in 1970. It claimed 500,000 lives, mostly as a result of the storm surge – the wave, in other words – that it produced.
Storm surges are an issue now, but they will become more of an issue.
Hurricanes are increasing in intensity. The National Climate Assessment (a US government programme), the climate research lab, GFDL, and many other organizations tell us we should expect more and bigger hurricanes.
Sea levels are rising. That’s a fact, not hypothesis. Last year the organization ‘Climate Central’ advised that, ‘As a result of heat-trapping pollution from human activities, rising sea levels could within three decades push chronic floods higher than land currently home to 300 million people.’ East Asia will be most affected, especially Bangladesh.
Bigger hurricanes will cause bigger storm surges. Rising sea levels will mean that they will affect more people. Here in Britain we may get off lightly. But it seems to me that many people around the world will experience some literal ‘roaring of the sea and the waves’ in the coming decades.
Is there any good news we can give? Actually, there is. The writer of Psalm 46 tells us:
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
But there’s more! A few verses further on from our opening verse in Luke, Jesus says, ‘Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’
Have a good rest of the day!
Simon
